


wanna bet?

by onakissgodknows



Category: Baseball RPF
Genre: Colorado Rockies, Fluff, M/M, Tumblr Prompt
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2018-06-20
Updated: 2018-06-20
Packaged: 2019-05-25 18:53:11
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 856
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/14983397
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/onakissgodknows/pseuds/onakissgodknows
Summary: He has to tell him now, it’s not a good time or the right place but he has it in the head that he can do it, so he has to.





	wanna bet?

**Author's Note:**

  * For [spilborghs (carebearstare)](https://archiveofourown.org/users/carebearstare/gifts).



> Written for the prompt "wanna bet?" as indicated by this incredibly creative title.
> 
> I didn't really have a timeline in mind when I wrote this but assume it's sometime in 2014, I guess!

“Hey, Tulo?” He has to tell him now, it’s not a good time or the right place but he has it in the head that he can do it, so he has to.

“Yeah?” Troy looks up at Nolan from where he’s been re-lacing his shoes on the bench in the clubhouse.

Now that Nolan’s standing right in front of Troy and Troy’s actually looking at him, his resolve dies. Troy has this effect – he’s so intense that when he looks at Nolan it’s like everything around him vanishes, like there’s nothing on earth but the two of them.

They aren’t alone, though, they’re in front of Troy’s locker with the whole team scattered around them, and Nolan’s lost his nerve. He bounces on the balls of his feet. “I can’t sit still.” They’re in the middle of a rain delay that looks like it’s going to turn into a rainout. He’s been pacing for the last twenty minutes, tried to play cards with Charlie and DJ but he can’t focus.

“When can you ever?” Troy quips. His face doesn’t give away much, but Nolan can tell he’s holding back a smile. “What are you going to do about it?”

Nolan exhales. “I, uh.” He has things he wants to say, should say – but the part of him that decided _now_ was the right time has completely vanished, leaving him only with the much larger part of him yelling _don’t you dare._ “Do you wanna do something? Like, help me kill time. Let’s go down to the batting cages.”

“You shouldn’t wear yourself out,” Troy says even as he gets to his feet. “We might still play.”

“Yeah, I know, but I barely got to take BP before the rain started – “

“I know, dumbass.” Troy laughs and taps Nolan on the back of the thigh, almost absentmindedly, like he doesn’t know he’s doing it. “Let’s go.”

Before they even make it to the cages, they get the announcement that it’s officially a rainout, to be made up as part of a double header the following day. Troy stops and looks at Nolan. “I’ll still come watch you hit if you want.”

Nolan laughs, mind racing, thinking that everybody’s going to be leaving and it could just be him and Troy left at the ballpark – thinking that might not be the worst thing in the world, but who is he to make that decision for Troy, who is he to keep Troy late if Troy would rather go home? Really, they both need to rest if they’re playing a double header tomorrow. Really, it’s the responsible thing to do to say no. So that’s what Nolan does. “Nah,” he says with a grin. “You should go. Get some extra rest while we’ve got the chance, right?”

Troy’s smile back is genuine. “Sure.”

Nolan goes home. Regrets not telling Troy what he needs to tell him, sleeps badly, wakes up to a text from Troy which he doesn’t read because – he’ll see Troy today, right? If he has something to say to Nolan he can say it to his face.

Troy’s waiting for Nolan when Nolan gets to the ballpark. “You could text me back, you know.”

“I didn’t see it,” Nolan lies, hoping he sounds like he’s so busy and in demand that he can’t be bothered to respond to individual texts, but he probably just sounds like a scatterbrained idiot. “What’d you say?”

Troy snorts. “Just wondered if you still wanted to take BP with me.”

Nolan always wants that.

(Nolan wants a lot.)

He watches Troy hit ball after ball in the stands during batting practice and hopes he’s not gawking too much, like a little kid, like some starstruck fan – he’s neither of those, he’s just Troy’s teammate.

(And he’s crazy, he’s so crazy about him.)

Troy smiles at him over his shoulder. “You look like you’re on another planet. What’s on your mind?”

“Uh.” Nolan’s mouth goes dry. “You don’t wanna know.”

Troy’s smile widens, and there’s a little bit of an edge to it now. Something playful and wicked. “Wanna bet?”

Nolan laughs, because what else can he do? “Uh, I’ll bet I can hit a ball farther than you.” He doesn’t think he can, but it’s the best cover he can come up with.

“Oh yeah?” Troy keeps grinning like that, and it makes Nolan’s heart race. Is he thinking what Nolan’s been thinking all along? Is Nolan more transparent than he thought he was? And if that’s the case, then why hasn’t Troy just addressed it yet, quit telling him to be such a freak? “And if you don’t, what do I win?”

Nolan picks up his bat with remarkable steadiness, if he says so himself. “Winner picks the prize.”

Troy laughs. “Those are dangerous words.” He steps out of the batter’s box and comes back over to Nolan. “Let’s see what you can do.” He smacks Nolan on the ass, then leans in close – Nolan can feel his breath on the side of his face. “And when I win, you’re going to tell me what you were really thinking.”

**Author's Note:**

> I'm on [tumblr](https://on-a-kiss-god-knows.tumblr.com/)!


End file.
